Portable bureau



I I 3 S11 -Sl1eet 1. L. HEYWO J. L. ROSS & J. K. OT

TABLE BUREAU.

No. 11,551. Patented Aug. 22, 1854.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2. L. HEYWOOD, J. L. ROSS 8; J. K. OTIS. PORTABLE BUREAU.

No. 11,551. Patented Aug. 22, 1854.

' 3 Sheets-Sheet L. HEYWOOD, J. L. ROSS & J. K. OTIS.

PORTABLE BUREAU.

No. 11,551. Patented Aug. 22, 1854.

UNITED STATES PATENT orr ou.

LEVI HEYWOODQJOSEPH L. ROSS, AND JAMES K. OTIS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PORTABLE BUREAU.

Specification of Letters Patent 11,551, dated August 22, 1854.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, LEvrHErwooD, Jo- SEPI-I; L. ROSS,.2LI1(1JAMES K.Orrs,all of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Bureausor Cases of Drawers, and that the followingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein we have set forth the Q nature and. principles of our said improvements by which our invention may be distinguished from others of a similar class, together with such parts as we claim and desire to have secured to us by Letters Patent.

The figures of the accompanying plates of drawings represent our improvements.

In Plate 1, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the bureau when set up, and Fig. 2, a horizontal section of the same taken in the plane of theline A B, Fig. 1. In Plate 2,

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the bureau taken in the plane of theline C D, Fig. 1. Figsha and 5 are detail sectional views which will be hereinafter referred to. In Plate 3, Fig. 6 is a plan or top view of the bureau, dismembered, with the different pieces packed in a box, and Fig. 7 isa transverse vertical section of the. same, taken in the plane of the line E F, Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a rear elevation of the bureau drawn to a reduced scale. 1

Our improvements are made upon that class of bureaus or cases of drawers, which aresusceptible of dismemberment, and are designed to facilitate the processof taking apart and putting together the different pieces of which the bureau iscomposed, and

also to economize the space occupied by the ent pieces of the drawers. a a.a or, represent. the two ends of the bureau which are connected together at the back by two cross bars 7),?) which are dovetailed into a projection of the saidend pieces as shown in Fig. 4:, Plate 2.

Z) bc c are the side and end pieces of the baseof the bureau dove-tailed into each other as shown in Fig. 5, Plate 2.

e e e e is an independent frame or case, with cross bars f, f, f which restsupon the base of the bureau and is fastened to the same by screwsg, g. I This frame extends out flush withthe front of the bureau and back as far as the rests j, j, &c., onwhich the drawers run.

7a 7; is the top of. the bureau and is fastened by screws 2', z',i, 2'- to theupper .cross bar 6, beforegreferred to, and to the top bar of the frame 6 e e e.

7c is an ornamental piece attached by screws to the back of the top h h.

Z, Z, Z, Z are the front, back and end pieces which form each drawer, dove-tailed into each other. m, m, &c., are the bottoms of the drawers which are also connected to the pieces Z, Z by dove-tails, or tongues and grooves. The back of the bureau is composed of sectional pieces or panels 17., n, n, n, which enter proper grooves formed in the diagonalcross braces 0 00 0, (shown by red lines in Fig. 1, Pl. 1, and in section in Fig. 2, Pl. 1, and Fig. 3, Pl. 2). The Whole back thus formed, is fastened to the end pieces a aa a by screws. The back thus formed of the diagonal cross braces, which are lapped into each other at their intersection, andof sectional pieces or panels, effectually holds the whole body of the bureau rigidly together, which is very essential in a bureau susceptible of dismemberment. In a back constructed in the ordinary manner, its construction and expansion,

would materially affect the other parts of the bureau, and displace them, but in this peculiar form of back the contraction or expansion of the sectional pieces or panels a, n &c., cannot disarrange the other por tions of the bureau, while the diagonal braces serve to strengthen andbind the whole firmly together.

The bureau is taken apart by removing the screws beforereferred to and slipping the different pieces out of their grooves or dove-tails, the whole frame 6 e e 6 with its cross bars, being taken out entire, and having the back 0 0-4:. a fastened to it to serve as a bottom to the same, the front, back, and end pieces Z, Z, Z, Z being disjointed and placed in the compartments of the case thus formed by the frame 6, e, e, e, its cross bars f, f, f and the back 0 0-n n, as shown in of the box 39 p, and resting immediately upon the frame 6 e e e.

From the above description it will be seen 1 that the different pieces which compose the I bureau can be readily fastened together (no glue being used) or taken apart, and that when set up,f the diagonally braced back maintains the strength and rigidity of the whole, and also serves as a back to the independent frame, when the bureau is in;

' pieces.

The bureau also, when dismembered, occupies but very little space in the packing boX, as the front, back and endpieces of each drawer, are packed together? 1 in the same compartment of the independent frame, in which they slide when put' together, and this arrangement is peculiarly convenient, as there will be no difliculty in finding and putting together the pieces which belong to each drawer.

Having thus described our improvements we shall state our claim as follows:

What we claim as our invention and desire to have secured to 11s by Letters Patent 1s,

Forming in a bureau or case of drawers which is susceptible of dismemberment an independent frame or case, which, when the parts are disjointed and the back of the bureau attached to it, serves as a box or case to receive the front, back and end pieces of each drawer, the pieces which compose each drawer being packed in the same compart-' ment of this independent frame, in which the said drawer slides when put together. LEVI HEYWOOD. JOSEPH L. ROSS. JAMES K. OTIS. Witnesses:

ESRA LINCOLN, JOSEPH GAvET'r. 

